Your Boxed Mix Muffins Will Taste Incredible With One Simple Swap

Busy foodies will agree that high-low cooking hacks are where it's at — taking humble recipes and giving them a gourmet spin results in both easy and delicious dishes. In the same you can brew instant coffee that tastes café-made or elevate a frozen pizza with bougie toppings, your favorite instant muffin mix can be improved in a snap with a clever use of ingredients.

In less time than it might take to drive to your nearest coffee shop, an instant muffin batter mix can deliver warm treats fresh from the oven. But if you want a je ne sais quoi that takes muffins from good to great enough to taste homemade, try adding buttermilk in place of regular milk or water. This liquid dairy product adds a bit of tang that balances the sweetness of these baked treats. It pairs especially well with fruity lemon or blueberry muffins. Buttermilk not only adds a layer of dimension to the flavor, but also improves your muffins' texture.

The acid in buttermilk reacts with the leavening agents in the mix, such as baking powder or yeast, to add a special fluffiness to the final muffins. Its extra fat content provides plenty of moisture, too. Just mix the dry ingredients with eggs and any other required ingredients, add the buttermilk in place of whatever liquid is called for in the directions, and taste the big difference.

Are you fuzzy on what buttermilk even is? Simply put, it's milk that's been fermented with the addition of lactic acid bacteria. When combined with alkaline baking powder or soda, the acidic buttermilk expands and creates air bubbles in the muffin batter. Remember that middle school baking soda plus vinegar science experiment? A similar reaction occurs to create lighter, bouncier baked goods.

Though you can buy cartons of buttermilk at well-stocked grocery stores, you can also make your own in a pinch. Just add about a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk, then let it sit for at least ten minutes, or until slightly thickened and curdled. This ratio can easily be scaled up or down for whatever quantity you need. Avoiding dairy? You can use plant-based milks in the same formula, though it may behave a little differently. Luckily, with the help of boxed mixes, you don't have to spend a ton on fresh ingredients in order to tinker around and eventually master dairy-free muffins you love.

Buttermilk adds a punch of flavor and fluffiness to plenty of baked goods besides muffins. You may know that it also works magic in pancakes and biscuits, and it's even delicious in cornbread and easy, moist cakes. Picking up a bottle or making your own will pay you back tenfold.